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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171043">What It's Like</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffyBeaumont/pseuds/FluffyBeaumont'>FluffyBeaumont</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shetland (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bi-Curiosity, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Drinking, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Frottage, Kissing, M/M, Wish Fulfillment</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:33:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,603</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffyBeaumont/pseuds/FluffyBeaumont</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Season-5 of Shetland. Duncan and Jimmy drinking in the Lounge. Jimmy sees a gay couple and asks Duncan if he's ever wondered what it's like, kissing another man. What ensues takes their friendship into an entirely unexpected direction, but one which Duncan has been waiting for all his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Duncan Hunter/Jimmy Perez, Duncan Hunter/Sandy Wilson (past)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What It's Like</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> “You know, I often wonder what that’s like,” Jimmy commented. He and Duncan were sitting at a back table in the Lounge, nursing a couple of whiskies near the fire as the October evening closed in around them. Cassie had returned to university in Glasgow; Duncan was newly single; and Alice’s rapid departure had put paid to any hope Jimmy might have nursed that the two of them had any kind of future.</p>
<p> “What what’s like?” Duncan asked, distracted by a flurry of text messages on his phone. He’d only just opened the bistro the week before but it was doing well in spite of everything. Still and all, he fussed over it like a new father with an unexpected infant.</p>
<p> “That,” Jimmy said, nodding towards two men at the bar. Duncan glanced up. They were obviously a couple, given that they were sitting close together, conversing with an ease born of long familiarity. They were young, perhaps in their early twenties, and one of them was blond, with pale Shetland good looks. The other was dark-haired and earnest, and wore wire-rimmed glasses that gave him the air of a young university professor. As he watched, the blond leaned in and kissed his partner lingeringly, pulling away with a smile. They were so wrapped up in each other and so obviously it love that it almost hurt to look at them. </p>
<p> “Never been kissed, Jimmy?” Duncan canted a look at him. “Is that what you meant?”</p>
<p> The corner of Jimmy’s mouth quirked up, that little half-smile that had always signaled his ease in Duncan’s presence. He’d never seen Jimmy make that face with anyone except him and Cassie. “No, that is not what I meant, Duncan.” He nodded at Duncan’s empty glass. “Another?”</p>
<p> “Sure, if you’re buying.”</p>
<p> “Be right back.” Jimmy slipped out of his chair and headed to the bar. It was a weeknight, quieter than usual, given that most folk were probably at home parked in front of the television, watching things like <i>Dancing With the Stars</i> and <i>Love Island</i>. Since Mary left to live in Aberystwyth with her Welsh fancy man, Duncan had been staying at Jimmy’s place. He told himself it was out of necessity, since the house was in Mary’s name and she’d already put it on the market, but in truth he was ferociously lonely and he suspected⸻although he’d never say it⸻that Jimmy was as well. They didn’t watch the telly very much. Jimmy owned one, but except for the evening news and the football, it was hardly ever on. Duncan would rather read a book, and Jimmy was more likely to set up at the kitchen table with his laptop and do some work. They’d passed many a pleasant evening that way, in companionable silence. “Here you go.” Jimmy laid down a fresh Scotch and Duncan put the phone away.</p>
<p> “What is it you’re wondering about?” Duncan asked. “You never did tell me.”</p>
<p> “Those two, over there at the bar.” Jimmy took a sip of his whisky.</p>
<p> “What about them?”</p>
<p> “You ever wonder what that’s like?”</p>
<p> Duncan was still just as confused. “What what is like, Jimmy? You’re doing my head in.” </p>
<p> “Kissing another man.” Jimmy wasn’t openly staring, but he couldn’t seem to pull his gaze away from the couple at the bar. They obviously fascinated him in some way. </p>
<p> Duncan felt a smile tugging at his own lips. “It’s like kissing anybody,” he said. “A kiss is a kiss, Jimmy.” </p>
<p> Jimmy turned to stare at him, and the astonishment in his face made Duncan chuckle. “How do you know?” he asked. “Have you ever…?”</p>
<p> Duncan nodded. “I have,” he said.</p>
<p> Jimmy leaned over the table. “You have? When was this?” His eyes traveled over Duncan’s features, almost as if he were seeing him for the first time and needed to memorize his face. “Not since I’ve known you, surely.” </p>
<p> “Yes, since you’ve known me.” Duncan fought not to laugh aloud. For all that he was a career cop and widely travelled, Jimmy was touchingly naïve about some things. “Did you never suspect, Jimmy?”</p>
<p> “When?”</p>
<p> “Here and there,” Duncan said, not yet drunk enough to spill all his secrets, “now and then.”</p>
<p> “Surely not here in Shetland.” </p>
<p> “Yes. Here in Shetland.” He couldn’t help it; he did laugh. Jimmy was just too adorable when he was this way, all wide blue eyes and disbelief.</p>
<p> “Anyone local?”</p>
<p> “Mmm…” Maybe it would be more politic to keep quiet. After all, he wasn’t interesting in outing anybody. “Yes.”</p>
<p> “Duncan.” Jimmy reached across the table and took hold of his forearm, squeezing gently. “You can’t be <i>gay</i>. You’ve been married twice. To women!”</p>
<p> “I’m not gay,” Duncan said. “I just enjoy variety. It’s never been about gender for me, Jimmy. It’s always the person, not what’s between their legs.”</p>
<p> “So…locally? Who?” Honestly, when it came down to it, Jimmy was like somebody’s gossipy old gran.</p>
<p> “I don’t tell tales out of school, and you wouldn’t believe me anyway,” Duncan replied. It wasn’t entirely true. He’d never been coy about his romantic assignations, but he enjoyed leading Jimmy along the putative garden path. He really was unbelievably nosy, curious to the marrow of his bones and clearly dying to know the identity of Duncan’s Shetland conquests.</p>
<p> “Tell me.” Jimmy slapped at his arm.</p>
<p> Duncan took another sip of the whisky. Jimmy had splashed out for this, he knew. It was definitely the good stuff. “This is very nice,” he said. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you were plying me with drink.”</p>
<p> Jimmy’s mouth compressed into a thin line. “Duncan, I swear to God⸻”</p>
<p> He leaned close and whispered it into the other man’s ear, pulled back to see his expression.</p>
<p> “Oh, go on wi’ ye,” Jimmy said. “I don’t believe that for a minute. He was living with Jenny⸻” He stopped short. “Are you sure?”</p>
<p> Duncan nodded. “I swear it on the Bible.”</p>
<p> “You kissed…” Jimmy leaned close and dropped his voice. “Sandy Wilson?”</p>
<p> “I didn’t just kiss him,” Duncan said, smirking. <i>That made ye shut up,</i>he thought, not without a measure of satisfaction.</p>
<p>Jimmy blinked at him, eyebrows raised. “When?”</p>
<p> “Last Christmas. After he had that big row with Jenny and she kicked him out. Mary was away in Aberdeen visiting her sister. I ran into him in Market Square and invited him for a Christmas drink.” He watched Jimmy carefully, saw his pupils dilate as he imagined Sandy Wilson naked in Duncan’s bed. <i>So you’ve thought about it.</i> No big surprise. Duncan had always suspected Jimmy wasn’t one hundred percent straight, and he had to admit, Sandy Wilson was pretty fucking tasty. Tasty, and very surprising in bed.</p>
<p> “That’s…” Jimmy swallowed hard, the muscles in his throat rippling. “I’m surprised,” he said, but he didn’t sound surprised at all. He sounded like he’d thought about it himself, and only his position as Sandy Wilson’s superior officer had prevented him from taking the young DC to his bed. Of course, Jimmy was too much of a gentleman to even consider making a move on someone like Sandy. He tended to go for the unattainable types, women like Alice and that one Asha, women with personal lives even more tangled than his own, who couldn’t commit to him for anything longer than a one-night stand, and even that was stretching it. Sandy Wilson was right there, young and eager and fit as fuck.</p>
<p> “Anyway.” Duncan glanced at his watch. “We should get home. I’ve had a hell of a week and I need my bed.” He tossed back the last of his whisky. “You ready?”</p>
<p> “Think so.” Jimmy drank the last half-inch left in his glass and shrugged into his jacket. “Good thing we’re walking.”</p>
<p> “You’d have to arrest yourself,” Duncan said. They said their goodbyes to the few remaining locals at the bar and stepped out into the chilly October night, Duncan shivering reflexively.</p>
<p> “Are ye cold?” Jimmy asked. He laid his palm against Duncan’s back and rubbed gently, his hand moving in circles. “Come on. Let’s get ye into the warm.”</p>
<p> It was a short walk from the Lounge to Jimmy’s house, and before long Jimmy was unlocking the front door and ushering Duncan into the deliciously cozy house. With the exception of a single light left burning in the living room, the house was in darkness. “Here you go,” Jimmy said, a hand on Duncan’s lower back, propelling him inside. “I’ll build up a fire. It’s a nice night for a fire, this.” Duncan slipped off his coat and hung it on one of the hooks by the front door, then bent to unlace his boots. But he was tired, and the whisky had gone to his head, and he stumbled a little, put out a hand to catch himself against the wall. Jimmy was there to catch him⸻Jimmy was always there to catch him⸻helping him to right himself, holding him in place. Their faces were very close together, so close that Duncan could make out each individual hair of Jimmy’s blond lashes, and the blue of his eyes, the perfect curve of his upper lip and the soft cushion of the lower. His heart was beating faster and faster, too fast, and a keen thrill of excitement that had everything to do with lust and nothing at all went sizzling along his limbs and then Jimmy was closer to him than he had ever been before.</p>
<p> “You wanted to know what it’s like,” Duncan murmured, his mouth an inch from Jimmy’s parted lips. “It’s like this, Jimmy. It’s just like this.” He closed the distance between them, his entire body trembling, shuddering himself towards Jimmy until their lips met and what he’d feared would be strange and awkward was absolutely perfect. Jimmy’s hand went to the back of his neck, holding him in place as Jimmy’s mouth explored him, lips tugging at his, the tip of his tongue easing its way between Duncan’s parted lips, tasting him, committing him to memory in case this thing between them, this <i>miraculous</i> thing, never happened again.</p>
<p> “Ah, Duncan…” Jimmy breathed, parting his lips from Duncan’s. “Will ye…will ye let me take ye to ma bed?”</p>
<p> “Jesus, Jimmy.” Duncan was nervous, shivering, about to vibrate out of his skin from the sheer excitement and anticipation of what Jimmy was proposing. “Are you sure?” He nuzzled Jimmy’s neck, the tip of his tongue flickering against Jimmy’s skin, tasting salt. Jimmy was trembling, too, at this strange juncture of their relationship. </p>
<p> “I’ve never been as sure of anything in my life.”</p>
<p> “Okay, then.” Duncan realised he was pressed against the wall, a tumble of boots and shoes at his feet, their coats hanging from the hooks, the door closed against the outside world. He had intended to be the aggressor, to show Jimmy exactly what he’d been missing, to take the lead, to bring his friend to his knees and from there to take him to the heights of pleasure, but he’d been outplayed. It was Jimmy who was taking him, Jimmy who offered his hand, who led Duncan through the darkened house to the dark bedroom, illuminated only by a spill of moonlight through the window.</p>
<p>They undressed each other slowly, swaying together to kiss and touch, to murmur endearments, until Duncan’s heart was full to bursting. Naked, Jimmy was beautiful. No longer young, but a man beautiful in his maturity, gorgeous in his prime, his torso lean and muscular, his belly still flat, hips angling down to a thick cock covered in silken skin. “Come here,” Jimmy whispered, tugging Duncan by the hand and leading him to the bed. “Lie with me, Duncan Hunter.”</p>
<p> He gave himself to Jimmy utterly, allowing Jimmy to lay him down and cover him with kisses and caresses, their bodies moving together as if in a dream. He gasped when Jimmy leaned down and took Duncan’s swollen cock into his mouth, tongue fluttering around the head, hands sliding underneath his hips to lift Duncan’s body as he suckled strongly, bringing Duncan over and over to the very edge of his orgasm. They kissed, mouths devouring each other, hands touching, fingers pressing, legs tangled together as Jimmy moved to lie between Duncan’s parted legs. His turgid cock slid into the seam of Duncan’s buttocks, and he thrust forward, needing release now, no longer content with the languid pace of their lovemaking. Duncan keened aloud as his release tingled in the base of his spine, an upswelling of absolute pleasure that moved through him like a tsunami, obliterating him, ploughing him under, until the world and everything in it dissolved into absolute pleasure.</p>
<p> “Duncan – Jesus - fuck⸻” Jimmy’s body bucked in his embrace, driving him into the mattress, as his cock twitched and spurted, disgorging his hot spend between Duncan’s thighs and against the curve of his buttocks. His face contorted with pleasure, his grimace of release beautiful to Duncan and he groaned as he came, panting through several powerful aftershocks before coming to rest, his head against Duncan’s shoulder.</p>
<p>Duncan drifted for a while, warm and safe and sated, holding Jimmy close to him, their arms around each other and Jimmy’s breath ghosting over Duncan’s naked shoulder. “I love you,” Duncan murmured, fighting the pull of sleep, “but ye always knew that.”</p>
<p> “Mmmm…” Jimmy turned his head to look at him, smiling gently. “I love you too,” he said. He shifted slightly. “Am I crushing ye?” he asked.</p>
<p> “No,” Duncan replied, “you’re perfect. Jimmy, you’re absolutely perfect.” He traced Jimmy’s lower lip with his thumb. “So, Jimmy, that’s what it’s like.” He grinned. “I mean, ye did ask.”</p>
<p> Jimmy slid off him, moving to nestle against Duncan’s side, his arm around his lover’s waist. “I did,” he replied. “I did indeed.”</p>
<p> “Didn’t ye already know?” Duncan asked, giving into a jaw-splitting yawn. “Jimmy, where are we going from here? What is it we’re doing?” He was suddenly alarmed, wondering what they would tell Cassie, how they would explain themselves to her. Were they even a couple now? Was this a one-night-only thing? Maybe Jimmy wouldn’t want him in that way, wasn’t interested in being part of a couple that included Duncan Hunter.</p>
<p> “I said I love you, Duncan.” Jimmy caressed his jawline, fingers rasping in the close-trimmed beard. “And I meant it.”</p>
<p> “What do you think Cassie is going to say?” He wanted it to be all right with her. He wanted her to accept them. It was important that she feel comfortable with the knowledge that her dads were now a bonded pair, a unit⸻<i>parents</i>, in every sense of the word.</p>
<p> “I think she’ll be thrilled,” Jimmy said. “Anyway, ye worry too much.” He tilted his head to look at Duncan in the pale moonlight. “Sandy Wilson? Are you serious?”</p>
<p> “Mmm-hmm,” Duncan replied. It was hard to form the words now. Sleep was lapping at him, and he just wanted to surrender to unconsciousness with Jimmy at his side, to be with Jimmy now and forever, because Jimmy was safe and because Duncan loved him. Had always loved him.</p>
<p>Would always love him.</p>
<p> “Go to sleep,” Jimmy murmured. “I love you, Duncan.”</p>
<p> “Jimmy,” Duncan said…started to say…but he was so sleepy and the bed - <i>their bed</i> was so warm, it was easy to let go and drift into unconsciousness. Everything was fine, he thought. Everything was exactly as it should be. “This is what it’s like,” he said, before sleep claimed him. “This is what it’s like, Jimmy. This is exactly what it’s like.”</p>
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